Weather Forecast

AUTO RACING: Another Mack finds his way to Victory Lane

Another driver from the Mack racing family of East Grand Forks has found his way to Victory Lane at River Cities Speedway.

Cory Mack became the sixth driver named Mack to capture a sprint car feature in Grand Forks over the years when the 20-year-old captured Friday night's season finale at RCS before more than 2,000 fans.

"I've been waiting four years for this," Mack said. "I've had a couple of seconds this year. I can't tell you how special this is. I can't even talk."

Other Mack drivers to win sprint features over the years in Grand Forks include Cory's grandfather, Don, who is in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. Cory's father, Todd, and brother, Casey, also have won features.

Linus Mack and Sonny Mack also have visited Victory Lane at the quarter-mile track as well.

Cory's first win, however, had some tense moments.

Late in the race, Austin Pierce drove low into Turn 4 and briefly grabbed the lead from Cory, who started on the front row. But the yellow flag came out seconds later, negating the pass.

On the restart, Cory dropped to the low groove and held off another charge from Pierce.

"I was definitely glad the yellow came out," Cory said. "I knew Austin was fast down there so I had to go down there, too."

The feature came on a fast track, one that saw two wrecks.

Chris Shirek's wicked crash on the front straight-away was the worst one. His No. 1 sprint was destroyed but he walked away from the wreck.

Shirek was running in second at the time.

While another Mack found his way to Victory Lane, one of the oldest drivers at RCS also was honored.

Wade Nygaard, with a top 10 showing, repeated as the RCS season points champion. He came in with a fairly comfortable lead over Casey Mack.

Nygaard, with more than 240 career wins, also wrapped up the NOSA season points championship as well.

"I would have rather won the race, but it's awesome that Cory won his first," Nygaard said.

Other feature winners included Justin Olson in pure stocks, Roland Bernard in lightning sprints and Jesse Skalicky in legends.